The Woman I Was Before

Having been in a two-year long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, Kayleigh Richards, I finally have time to visit her family for the holidays. In doing so, I want to hash out the details of our upcoming wedding as well. What I didn't expect is that Kayleigh would actually show up with a hooligan at the banquet. She even goes as far as to terminate our engagement in front of everyone. The hooligan, Gerald Shaw, looks at me haughtily. A trace of mockery can be seen in his eyes when he notices how wretched I look. "What makes you think you can fight with me over my woman? Kay, how the heck did you even fall for this wretched-looking beggar in the first place? He's even carrying an old sack with him! Don't tell me he just came back from collecting the trash!" All of Kayleigh's relatives who are present at the banquet roar in laughter. My future mother-in-law even shoves me in an attempt to kick me out. I merely gaze at Kayleigh calmly. "Are you sure you want to choose him?" Kayleigh sneers at me in return. "You're just a stupid miner! Gerald's dad is the owner of the gold mine, you know!" I raise an eyebrow at her words. Then, I open the woven sack I've brought with me. The gold bricks that scatter from the sack shine brightly under the light. "Oh? I have no idea that my gold mine has somehow become someone else's property."

Sofia Esteban had given up her fortune, her family and her name for love... only to have her husband shove divorce papers in her face and announce he was marrying another woman… who claimed to be pregnant with his child. Two months later, Sofia wakes from a coma with no memory… only to discover the man she loved has married her rival and her life has been shattered…

After eating a poisonous, hallucination-inducing mushroom, I genuinely thought I’d woken up inside a spicy erotica novel. I was the heroine—a live-in housekeeper working for a rich heir, the kind of impossibly handsome, impossibly wealthy man who only exists in fiction. When I opened my eyes and saw him standing there, I felt… oddly disappointed. I muttered under my breath, “Only six guys? What, do I need to take Sundays off?” The heir let out a short, disbelieving laugh. A slow, dangerous one. “If I’d known you were this bold,” he said, “I wouldn’t have bothered being gentle.” The moment the hallucination faded, I grabbed his sleeve and practically burst into tears. “Honey, I’m sorry. I swear I didn’t mean any of that.” He loosened his tie with maddening calm and murmured, “Relax. No one here takes Sundays off. And if you’re that eager to follow the plot of your little erotica novel… we can start right now.”

After working overtime every day for a month, I finally completed an important code that could save my company. Five minutes into my break, my team leader, Fiona Smith, suddenly hit me in the head with her file. “Because you spent so much time in the office, our electricity bill this month has increased by 15 kWh! Do you see this office as a free air-conditioning supplier?” I was about to defend myself when she angrily pointed at my cell phone and tablet on my desk. “You’re charging your devices here? You should charge them at home! Aren’t you aware of the company’s current condition?” I could no longer hold back my anger. “Fiona, I’ve been working overtime. I’m not here doing nothing!” “Can’t you do overtime at home instead? For a fresh graduate, you sure know how to exploit the company’s resources. Who knows what other despicable things you might be capable of doing in the future?!” Fiona yelled. I stared at her twisted expression and suddenly chuckled. If only my parents had seen me working so hard over such a trivial matter. They would have immediately asked me to quit and work in their company instead. I grabbed the flash drive with the important code and called my secretary. “Jane, I’d like to purchase Galaxy Corporation, and I want it to be the best in the industry.”

Jace Maddox is a billionaire tech CEO known for his cold heart and strict routines. Behind closed doors, he's a man haunted by betrayal, grief, and secrets too heavy to share. River Hale is an ex-military bodyguard with nothing left to lose. Disgraced and angry, he’s hired to protect the one man he can’t stand, Jace Maddox. When a dangerous scandal threatens to destroy Jace’s empire, the only way to survive is a fake relationship. A staged romance to control the media. But fake feelings start to feel real. As secrets unravel and enemies close in, both men must face their pasts, and the truth about what they’ve come to mean to each other.

The casino my husband and I ran was about to go through a chaotic police raid. Anyone who got caught would likely end up arrested. We had the time to leave. But we couldn’t all leave. One of us had to stay behind, or the cops would keep chasing us. Elias, my charming husband, didn’t even hesitate. He grabbed Mireille and left me to handle the cops, tossing over his shoulder, “I’ll send a lawyer to you.” Lucky for me, I managed to walk away without any consequences. And then, I saw, Elias, the man who was supposed to have my back, not only did escape without me, he also whisked Mireille away to some fancy resort, like they were on vacation. He looked so carefree, so unbothered. Not a hint of concern for the wife he’d just abandoned. “Think Seraphina’s gonna be mad that we left without her?” Mireille asked, all innocence. Elias laughed, that cold, detached laugh that sent a shiver down my spine. “Please. As if she’d ever get mad at me. She can handle herself.” He didn’t care. But you know what? Neither do I. Not anymore.

Braston thought Molly was just a call girl when she entered his office in disguise. She had no idea what to do, even though she was a virgin, she faced that mobster just to rob him and save her family from imminent death. but ended up taking much more than a ring and keeping her identity secret, she stole much more than a ring from that mobster, and he will only find out when he is with a child whose kidnapped for revenge. However, Molly will never let it go and will do everything to get her son back without even knowing that she is in a fight, not only with a mafia man, but with her son's father.

When my best friend, Dulcie Quinn, and I went to Westhaven on vacation, my boyfriend, Shane Lewis, got me a lower berth in a soft-sleeper. Before I boarded, he pointed at the dark circles under his eyes. “I spent three days trying to snag you a lower berth so you’d be comfortable on the trip. “So no matter what, don’t give it up to anyone else. Not even Dulcie.” He looked so serious that I nodded and told him I understood. Sure enough, as soon as we boarded, Dulcie, who had the berth above mine, asked if we could switch. Remembering what Shane had told me, I shook my head and said no. I explained it to her too. I never expected something to go wrong that very night. When she climbed down to use the bathroom, she missed the handrail and fell. Clutching her stomach, she screamed, “My baby! My baby’s gone!” I did not even have time to ask when she had gotten pregnant. I rushed her off the train and took her to the nearest hospital. Late that night, Dulcie’s husband, Wallace Lambert, arrived at the hospital with Shane. By then, she had already undergone a D&C. The moment she saw me, she pointed at me and started cursing me out. “Do you have any idea how much I sacrificed for that baby?” Shane blamed me too. “I thought you were just joking when you said you were jealous of Dulcie. I never imagined you’d be cruel enough to do something like this!” I didn’t even get the chance to say a word before Wallace slammed me against the wall and strangled me to death. After I died, Dulcie ended up with Shane. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to three minutes before boarding the train.

One day before my wedding, my fiancé, Tristan, declared, “you can no longer be my bride." The reason? My sister, Victoria, had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Her dying wish was for me to give up my place as the bride, so she could marry my fiancé instead. And Tristan agreed without hesitation. He even turning on me, "How can you be so heartless? She's your own sister!" The mocking smiles from my sister and the righteous anger from my fiancé left me broken. Little did I know, I would turn to the man I never anticipated—Rowan, my fiancé's uncle. He was the true power behind the family. Rumored to be ruthless, politically powerful, and never interested in women. However, I had never expected that he would took me in his arms tightly."Don't leave me."

In the day, Evelyn Jefferson is Warren Larkin's elegant and capable executive secretary. At night, she's his alluring bedfellow.After three years of such an arrangement, she thinks he loves her. But when she proposes to him, he says, "It's just a game—we fuck, not make love. Did you really think I'd take you seriously?"She loses hope in him and leaves without another word. From that day on, her life is transformed, and her career skyrockets. She becomes a renowned lawyer that no one in the industry dares offend. Countless suitors swarm her.He regrets his decision and pins her to the wall, his eyes bloodshot. "I'm yours in heart, mind, and soul. Will you marry me, please?"She smiles seductively. "Sorry, but you're standing in the way of my Mr. Right."